University of South Carolina Beaufort's Browder, Rietkovich seeking transfers

C.J. Browder and Katie Rietkovich formed an All-Sun Conference middle infield this year for the University of South Carolina Beaufort softball team, but they both plan to play elsewhere next season.

Browder and Rietkovich have been given permission to contact other schools about transferring from USCB, the school confirmed Friday. The news came about two weeks after USCB declined to renew the contract of head coach Ty Rietkovich, who is Katie's father, for the 2013-14 school year.

Katie Rietkovich said she decided to transfer last weekend and both players asked Monday for permission to contact other schools. USCB athletics director Quin Monahan said Rietkovich and Browder, an NAIA All-American shortstop, are the only softball players who have requested permission to transfer.

“I didn't want to make any quick decisions,” Katie Rietkovich said. “But I talked with my family over the weekend and decided the best thing would be for me to move on.”

Browder said she knew she wanted transfer immediately after she read a June 6 email from Monahan that announced to players Ty Rietkovich would not return next year.

“They were going to go in a different direction,” she said of the USCB administration, “and I was, too.”

Breaking the news

Ty Rietkovich was informed June 6 in a meeting his contract would not be renewed. The Sand Sharks went 80-17 in two seasons under Rietkovich, who was the program's first head coach. This spring, they posted a 43-6 record, won the conference title and finished one victory short of the NAIA World Series.

Monahan declined to provide specific reasons for the decision. He said USCB coaches are evaluated throughout the year and the move was “about more than wins and losses.”

Monahan said Friday his policy is to give an athlete who wants to transfer a “permission to contact” letter, then grant a release to transfer when it is requested by another school. He said releases are evaluated on an individual basis.

“We have rarely, if ever, turned down a release,” Monahan said.

Katie Rietkovich transferred to USCB in 2010 from the University of Georgia to help her father start the Sand Sharks program. She was an all-conference second baseman the last two seasons and has one year of eligibility left as a rising redshirt senior.

Rietkovich said she was on the way to have dinner with her father June 6 when she read Monahan's email. Monahan said the players also were contacted by phone the following day, as a team meeting was not possible because the school is on summer break.

“I read it in the parking lot at Walgreen's,” Katie Rietkovich said. “(Ty) was going to tell me at dinner. I just sat there bawling because I didn't know how this could happen.

“I had no idea whatsoever this was coming,” she said. “We had an amazing year.”

Future plans

Katie Rietkovich is on track to graduate in December, she said, and is looking for a school that has her major of hospitality management. She said she wants to return to the NCAA Division I level, where she started her college career.

Browder emerged as the Sand Sharks' top player this year in her only season at the school. She transferred to USCB from Northwest Florida State, a junior college, after starting out at Lee University in her native Tennessee.

“I can say wholeheartedly that I was an All-American because I played under that man,” Browder said of Ty Rietkovich.

Browder, the Sun Conference player of the year, will be a fourth-year senior next spring. Her phone has been “ringing off the hook” with calls from coaches, she said.

Ty Rietkovich said Friday he has been contacted by several schools about assistant and head coaching positions, but he has not had any interviews.

USCB will accept resumes until the end of the month for head softball coach and form a committee to narrow down the list of candidates. Monahan said USCB assistant Laura Heberling, who remains on staff, will be “strongly considered” for the job. He would like to fill the position “sooner than later,” he said, but has not set a deadline.

“We've gotten a good response from all over the country,” Monahan said, “and there have even been a couple of international candidates.”

Browder and Rietkovich said they would love to continue playing together at another school, but they plan to make their own choices. They said they decided separately to transfer and have started sending their information to potential transfer destinations.

“We're going to do what's best for us as individuals, but it worked out well for us this year in the middle of the infield and we trust each other,” Katie Rietkovich said. “We loved playing together.”